Beyond Equestria

by AshleyFlutter

Chapter 2

Chapter 2
"Mmm, that's good eatin'" Apple Jack said, licking her lips. The earth pony and her family had been invited to the castle as guests of the princess, but seeing as her apple cupcakes were princess Cadence's favorite she volunteered to make the food for the feast that was to follow the presentation of the new filly. "Can we try some?" Apple Jack felt a tug on her mane.

She looked down to see her sister, Apple Bloom and her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, the fillies smiled up at her, eyes gleaming and mouths hanging open. "Why shoot, a course you can" she said, grabbing a plate with her teeth and passing it down to them. Apple Bloom finished hers in one bite, "I famp pwate to gee da gew daby milly" Apple Bloom said around a mouthful of cupcake. "What?" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo asked in unison. She swallowed the cupcake in one big gulp, "I said, I can't wait to see the new baby filly""oh me neither" Sweetie Belle interjected, "I'm going to sing her a lullaby" she inhaled sharply, preparing to sing, every pony who knew Sweetie Belle knew that her 'lullabies' sounded more like something you'd hear in a bridleway show or a gospel choir than something that was whispered quietly to a baby. "Ummm, maybe later" Scootaloo said, shoving a cupcake into Sweetie Belle's mouth, "I can't wait 'til she's old enough to join . . .""The CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS" they all shouted. "I know y'all still haven't got yer cutie marks yet, but I think by the time the princess is your age you'll have 'em" Apple Jack said, winking. "I hope so" Scootaloo sighed,"well even if we do, we could still help them other little fillies find theirs" Apple Bloom said. "Aw, well that's mighty nice of ya, sis" Apple Jack replied, patting her sister on the head with her hoof.

"AJ. . " Apple Jack groaned, "lemme guess, Caramel burned the pies?" "eeuup" Big Mac replied. Since almost all of Equestria was was going to attend the feast, it was a great excuse for the Apple family to get together to do one of their favorite things, make delicious apple treats for every pony. "Step aside, youngin' " Granny Smith said, pushing the burnt pies and Caramel out of the way, "watch and learn."

"Why don't y'all go out and play" Apple Jack said before turning back to her cupcakes. "Oh, I have an idea" Scootaloo said, eyes wide, "let's go find Rainbow Dash!" "Okay, let's go" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle agreed, the three fillies reared up on their hind legs before bolting out the kitchen door. Apple Jack smiled, but her reverie was interrupted by an explosion directly behind her. She turned around to see Caramel, Granny Smith and Big Mac covered in apple pie. Granny Smith licked her lips, "hmmm, not bad sonny" "eeeupp" Big Mac replied. She tried to look angry, but the sight of her family covered in pastry was to much to bear, she couldn't help but laugh, and neither could the rest of the Apples.

* * *

"Oh my goodness" Fluttershy shrieked, there was no time to push the cloud over to Rainbow, she would have to rely on her own two wings. She took a deep breath and kicked off of the cloud, flying as fast as her wings could carry her. Her eyes watered, the wind burned her face and her long pink mane whipped around, at times obscuring her vision. When the wind finally relented, she could see Rainbow, she’s falling too fast, Fluttershy realized, I’m not going to reach her in time. Fluttershy pushed harder, her wings began to ache but she still wasn’t any closer to Rainbow Dash. No,no,no! So close to the ground now, Fluttershy closed her eyes, not wanting to hear the sound when Rainbow hit the ground, not wanting to see the sparkle go out of her friend’s eyes. She screamed, the tears she cried dried on her face instantly, she could still feel them though, cold as ice. Only inches from the ground, she allowed herself to open her eyes once again. “No, it can’t be, It’s impossible!”

* * *

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake” Twilight and Cadence sang in unison. The initial wave of warmth and nostalgia that accompanied the ritual that occurred every time the two mares saw each other was followed by the shiver that ripped through Twilight when she realized just why their little tradition was so important. Not that she wanted to think of the time that Queen Chrysalis had impersonated Cadence, when the changelings had invaded Equestria and had almost succeed in conquering it. Twilight tried to shake such thoughts from her head, today was a happy day and she wouldn’t allow anything to spoil it. Besides, everything had been so peaceful for so long, that everything that had happened before seemed like a bad dream. “So where is she?” asked Twilight, unable to conceal her excitement . "She's right here" Shining Armor said proudly. The new born was shrouded in an aura of purple light, carried by an older unicorn with white coat, lavender mane and a cutie mark that looked like a stork carrying a bundle of joy. The Mare, whom Twilight assumed was the filly's nanny, set her in Twilight's open hooves.

The little filly looked up at her with her big blue eyes, she gurgled and laughed, trying to reach twilight's horn, grasping for it with her tiny pink hoof. Twilight's heart melted, "what did you decide on for a name?" She asked, managing to tear her eyes away from the filly, if only for a moment. "We wanted to combine Cadence's musical name with my magical name, so we came up with Aria, Aria Glimmer." "Oh, that's beautiful" Twilight said, looking down at her, "hi Aria, I'm your aunt Twilight" she bent her head down so her horn touched Aria's, which was little more then a bump on her head now. The little filly laughed and nuzzled her.

"So how was your trip from the Crystal Empire?" Twilight asked, Aria yawned and closed her eyes. Twilight's magic encircled her, she set Aria on her back, where the little filly curled up in her mane and began to snore softly. "It was fine, Aria was an angel, she didn't even make a peep, except for. . ." Cadence's voice trailed off. "What, what happened?" Twilight asked, allowing the slightest amount of panic creep into her voice. "That's just it, Twily" Shining Armor said, "nothing." "We were on the train, and the conductor said we had to make an emergency stop, there was something wrong with the tracks, we offered to get out and help but then. . .""Then what?" Twilight said, her pulse quickening. "Then we started moving again and everything was fine" "I heard Aria cry, I guess the sound of the train whistle scared her and Hortense" she said, gesturing to the unicorn who had given Aria to Twilight, "brought her to us, and she was fine the rest of the trip." "I don't know" said Cadence shaking her head, "maybe I'm just being paranoid." "Don't worry" Twilight said, doing her best to hug her sister while not disturbing the filly softly snoring on her back, "everything's okay." "It's not easy to be a new mother" Hortense piped up, "but I think the princess is doing a wonderful job." "Thank you" Cadence said, blushing slightly. "Me too" Shining Armor replied, wrapping his arm around her.
* * *
Fluttershy pulled up at the last moment, she had been flying so hard and so fast, it was all she could do to avoid a crash. She stumbled around for a moment, trying to get her bearings. She had hoped she was hallucinating, that maybe her mane had blocked her view; but there was no mistaking it: Rainbow Dash was gone. Not gone in the metaphysical sense, but just plain gone. The field was wide and unobstructed, nothing but green grass for miles. "Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy called, panic did not creep into Fluttershy's voice but invaded it all at once. "Rainbow Dash, Please. . ." Rainbow was known for being a prankster but Fluttershy knew she would never try to make her think something had happened to her just for a laugh. "Rainbow Dash, where are you?" Fluttershy shouted, but no one was there to hear her, no one that she knew of at least

Author's Note:

I hope you guys like how the story's going so far, I know you wanna get to the big battle, I do too, but I gotta lay the ground work first. So I hope you are enjoy this part as well.
-I hope there is lots of 'd-awww' for baby Aria, I was definitely feeling it while I was writing
-have any theories so far? feel free to share them in the comments
Thanks for reading, guys
now that the series is over for the season this is my way to still kind of live in the world of Equestria and I hope it can be that way for you too
Notes:
Though these events happen after the events of MLP:FIM, Twilight is not an Alicorn Princess in this fic, other then that everything else is pretty much cannon
*This fic is going to be laid out more like a novel, so the chapters will be shorter, partly to build suspense, but there will be more of them

Comments

[iloveLulu]

This is a good story